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On this day: May 31

2013: Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her role as Archie Bunker's wife in the groundbreaking 1970s sitcom "All in the Family," dies of natural causes at age 90 in New York City. Stapleton won three Emmy awards -- in 1971, 1972 and 1978, in addition to five other nominations in which he she fell short -- for her performance as Edith Bunker.

2005: In an article published on its website, Vanity Fair magazine reveals that former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt was the Watergate scandal whistleblower known as "Deep Throat." According to the article, Felt, who was 91 at the time, was persuaded to come out by his family, who wanted to capitalize on the book deals and other lucrative opportunities that Felt would inevitably be offered in order to help pay off his grandchildren's education.

2003: Eric Robert Rudolph, who had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing, is captured in Murphy, N.C. In 2005, Rudolph pleaded guilty to numerous federal and state homicide charges and accepted four consecutive life sentences in exchange for avoiding a trial and a potential death sentence.

2000: R&B and soul singer Johnnie Taylor, best known for hits such as "Who's Making Love," "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)" and "Disco Lady," dies of a heart attack at the age of 66 in Dallas, Texas.

2000: Latin music bandleader and percussionist Tito Puente dies at the age of 77 at New York University Hospital after undergoing heart surgery. The five-time Grammy winner recorded more than 100 albums in his 60-year career and was instrumental in defining Latin jazz.

1996: Writer and psychologist Timothy Leary, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs and for popularizing the catchphrase "turn on, tune in, drop out," dies of prostate cancer at the age of 75 in Los Angeles, Calif.

1985: The comedy "Fletch," starring Chevy Chase, premieres in theaters. Based on the popular Gregory Mcdonald novels, the movie became a box office success, making nearly $60 million worldwide, and spawned a sequel, 1989's "Fletch Lives."

1985: An outbreak of 41 tornadoes hits Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, leaving 88 dead. It is the largest and most intense tornado outbreak ever to hit the region, and the worst tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania history in terms of deaths and destruction.

1983: American boxer Jack Dempsey, who held the world heavyweight championship from 1919 to 1926 and was one of the most popular boxers in history, dies of heart failure at the age of 87 in New York City. Dempsey compiled a career record of 65 wins (51 by knockout), six losses, 11 draws and one no-contest.

1977: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.

1976: Actor Colin Farrell, best known for movies such as "Tigerland," "Phone Booth," "S.W.A.T." "Daredevil," "Alexander," "The New World," "Miami Vice" and "In Bruges," is born in Dublin, Ireland.

1971: In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the previously traditional Memorial Day of May 30.

1970: Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk dies from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 40 in New York City. Sawchuk, who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, had earlier suffered internal injuries in a drunken fight with Rangers teammate Ron Stewart. Sawchuk's gallbladder was removed and he had two operations on his damaged and bleeding liver before he died. His best years came at the beginning of his career for the Red Wings, leading the team to three Stanley Cups in five years, winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie and three Vezina Trophies for the fewest goals allowed. Sawchuk finished his hockey career with 447 regular season wins, a record that stood for 30 years, and his career record of 103 shutouts remained unsurpassed among NHL goaltenders until Martin Brodeur bested the mark on Dec. 21, 2009.

1970: The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru, beneath 100 million cubic yards of snow, ice and debris. At least 20,000 died from the avalanche alone, making it the deadliest avalanche in history, and up to another 50,000 died from the earthquake itself.

1965: Actress and model Brooke Shields, best known for movies such as "Pretty Baby," "The Blue Lagoon" and "Endless Love," and the TV series "Suddenly Susan," is born in New York City.

1964: Rapper Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, one of the pioneers of hip hop culture and a founding member of the hip hop group Run–D.M.C, is born in Harlem, N.Y.

1962: Singer-songwriter Corey Hart, best known for his 1980s hits "Sunglasses at Night" and "Never Surrender," is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1962: Adolf Eichmann, a German Nazi lieutenant colonel and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, is hanged in Israel. After World War II, Eichmann had fled to Argentina, where he lived under a false identity until being captured by Mossad operatives in 1960. He was found guilty on 15 counts, including crimes against humanity and war crimes.

1961: Actress Lea Thompson, best known for movies such as "Red Dawn," "Back to the Future," "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Howard the Duck," and for the TV shows "Caroline in the City" and "Switched at Birth," is born in Rochester, Minnesota.

1961: Jimi Hendrix enlists in the Army for three years after being given the choice between prison and enlisting following his second time being caught riding around in a stolen car. After completing his basic training at Fort Ord, Calif., he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. He was honorably discharged a little more than a year later on the basis of unsuitability.

1954: Actress and singer Vicki Sue Robinson, most famous for her 1976 disco hit "Turn the Beat Around," is born in Harlem, N.Y. She died of cancer at age 45 on April 27, 2000.

1949: Actor Tom Berenger, best known for movies such as "The Big Chill," "Platoon," "Major League" and "Born on the Fourth of July," is born Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago, Illinois. Berenger earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for "Platoon."

1948: Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham is born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England. Widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music, Bonham died at age 32 of asphyxiation on his own vomit due to consumption of alcohol while sleeping at bandmate Jimmy Page's house in Clewer, Windsor, England, on Sept. 25, 1980.

1943: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, who played all but one of his 13 NFL seasons with the New York Jets, leading them to victory in Super Bowl III in 1969, is born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Namath, who finished his career playing a year for the Los Angeles Rams in 1977, is also known for boldly guaranteeing victory over the favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Nicknamed "Broadway Joe," he also became known for his personality and found a career appearing in commercials, TV shows and movies.

1943: Actress Sharon Gless, a two-time Emmy winner best known for her work on the TV shows "Cagney & Lacey," "Queer as Folk" and "Burn Notice" (pictured), is born in Los Angeles, Calif.

1938: Country music singer-songwriter and guitarist Johnny Paycheck, best known for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It," is born Donald Eugene Lytle in Greenfield, Ohio. Paycheck suffered from drug and alcohol addiction during his career and served 22 months in jail in 1989-90 for a 1985 shooting incident in which he grazed a man's head with a shot from a .22-caliber pistol. Among the other hits he recorded are "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)," "She's All I Got" and "Mr. Lovemaker." He died from emphysema at the age of 64 in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 19, 2003

1930: Actor and director Clint Eastwood, best known for a career that ranges from 1960s spaghetti westerns and the "Dirty Harry" franchise to Oscar-winning work in movies like "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," is born in San Francisco, California. Some of Eastwood's most memorable films include "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Every Which Way but Loose," "In the Line of Fire" and "The Bridges of Madison County." He first directed 1971's "Play Misty for Me" and has gone on to direct more than 30 films, winning Best Director Oscars for "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," both of which also won him Best Picture honors. He's also been nominated for directing the Best Picture nominees "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Mystic River" and has also directed films such as "Pale Rider," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Space Cowboys," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Gran Torino," "Invictus," "J. Edgar" and "American Sniper."

1910: Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, dies following a stroke at age 89 in Hastings, England. She received her medical degree from the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, N.Y., on Jan. 23, 1849.

1908: Actor Don Ameche, whose career started in vaudeville and spanned nearly 60 years, is born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wis. Some of Ameche's most memorable roles came at the tail end of his career, in movies like "Trading Places," "Cocoon" and "Corrina, Corrina." In 1986, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Cocoon." He died of prostate cancer at the age of 85 on Dec. 6, 1993.

1889: More than 2,200 people die after the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River breaks, sending a 60-foot wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pa. The flood also caused $17 million of damage, the equivalent of about $425 million in 2012 dollars, and was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross.

1879: New York City's Gilmore's Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue. The first of four venues to eventually use that name, the open-air arena had a seating capacity of 10,000 and operated until 1890, when it was replaced with a new building on the same site. The current Madison Square Garden arena opened in its midtown-Manhattan location in 1968.

1859: The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.

1819: Walt Whitman, one of the most influential poets in American history, is born in West Hills, N.Y. Whitman's work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection "Leaves of Grass," which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. Some of Whitman's best known poems include "Song of Myself," "O Captain! My Captain!" and "Beat! Beat! Drums!"

1809: Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period, dies at age 77 in Vienna, Austria. Hayden is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" for his contributions to those musical forms.

1790: The United States enacts its first federal copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790. The law covered only books, maps and charts, with paintings, drawings and music not being included until later. Pictured here is the law printed in the Columbia Centinel, a Boston newspaper of the day.

1279 B.C.: Rameses II, referred to as Rameses the Great, becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire.

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